Architecture for electric machine

ABSTRACT

The invention includes an electric machine having a rotor, stator and at least one winding in the stator adapted to conduct a current, and a secondary winding, electrically isolated from the first winding and inductively coupled to the first winding, which may be used to control at least one of the output voltage and current of the first winding.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of allowed U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/509,636 filed Jul. 27, 2009, which is adivisional of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/941,396 filed Nov.16, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,583,063, which is a divisional of the U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/531,854 filed Sep. 14, 2006, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,312,550, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/159,290 filed Jun. 23, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,126,313,which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/444,952filed May 27, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,183, all of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to electric machines such as alternators andmotors and, more particularly, to a novel architecture for suchmachines.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a typical permanent magnet (PM) machineaccording to the prior art is shown at 100. Prior art PM machine 100 hasa rotor 102, with permanent magnets 104 mounted thereto by a retainingring 106, which is mounted on a rotatable shaft 108. Rotor 102 isadjacent a stator 110 having a plurality of windings 112 interspersedbetween a plurality of teeth 114 mounted to a back iron 116. (For easeof illustration, the adjacent elements of windings 112 in FIG. 1B areshown unconnected.) As is well understood, PM machine 100 may operate ina generator/alternator mode or a motor mode. When operated in agenerator/alternator mode, an external torque source forces rotation ofthe shaft (and thus the rotor and the magnets), and the interaction ofthe magnets and the windings causes a magnetic flux to loop the windingsin the slots. As the rotor rotates, the magnetic flux in the statorstructure changes, and this changing flux results in generation ofvoltage in the windings, which results in an output current that can beused to power electrical devices, or be stored for later use. Whenoperated in a motor mode, a voltage from an external source is appliedto the stator windings which causes current flow in the windings andresults in a magnetic flux to be set up in the magnetic circuit formedby the teeth and back iron. When current is supplied in an appropriatemanner to the windings, the rotor can be made to rotate and thus produceusable torque. The operation of such machines is thus well understood.

Such PM machines can have an “inside rotor” configuration as shown inFIGS. 1A and 1B, or an “outside rotor” configuration as shown in FIGS.2A and 2B. The reference numerals in FIGS. 2A and 2B correspond to thecorresponding features described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. Inthe “outside rotor” configuration, however, rotor yoke 108′ replacesrotor shaft 108. For ease of illustration, the adjacent elements of thewindings in FIG. 2B are also shown unconnected.

Irrespective of whether operated in an alternator or motor mode, themagnetic flux path in these prior art PM machines is as partially andsimply depicted in FIG. 3, the flux path as indicated by the arrows 118,and the poles and virtual poles denoted by an “N” or an “S”. It is thismagnetic flux 118 which induces a voltage in the alternator winding 112(or in the case of a motor, creates the magnetic attraction with thepermanent magnet 106 to cause rotor rotation), as described above.

Prior art PM machines (and particularly PM alternators) suffer from atleast two limitations which has limited their usefulness somewhat,namely: (1) the output of the PM alternator may only be controlledwithin the machine (i.e. varied) by varying the rotor speed (assuming afixed geometry machine), and (2) if a short circuit or other internalfault occurs in the machine, the internal fault current can becomeextremely destructive to the machine, particularly in high powerapplications. With reference to the first drawback, this intrinsicfeature particularly limits the usefulness of a PM generator incircumstances where the rotor rotation speed cannot be independentlycontrolled. It would therefore be desirable to improve thecontrollability of PM machines, generally.

PM machines offer certain attractive advantages for use in high speedapplications, and particularly as an integrated starter-generator (ISG)for a propulsive or prime-mover gas turbine engine, in which the PMmachine is mounted directly to a turbine shaft of the engine. Thisshaft, of course, is driven at whatever speed is required for therunning of the gas turbine engine (typically anywhere in the range of0-50,000 rpm) and thus the shaft speed cannot be varied to suit thecontrollability limitations of the PM machine, but rather is dictated bythe mechanical output requirements of the engine. Therefore, althoughthe ISG designer will know the average steady state speed of the turbineshaft at cruise, can thus design an PM alternator system to providesufficient electrical output necessary to power the aircraft systems atcruise (where the engine typically spends most of its operation cycle),accommodations must be made for take-off (where the turbine shaft may beturning at twice cruise speed, doubling alternator output) and landingapproach (where turbine shaft speed may be half of cruise speed, halvingalternator output). The problem is an order of magnitude greater forcertain military applications, where cruise speed is rarely maintainedfor any length of time. The prior art therefore poses optimizationproblems to the ISG designer, where critical over-power and under-powerscenarios must be managed to achieve a satisfactory design.

There are other drawbacks inherent prior art designs, which result incomplicated mechanisms and fabrication techniques. U.S. Pat. No.6,525,504 to Nygren et al. shows one example of a relatively complicatedsolution to the control of certain aspects of the operation of a PMmachine used in high voltage power generator applications. The deviceoffers only limited control over operation of the machine, and itscomplexity makes it unsuitable for higher reliability and lighter weightapplications such as, for example, aircraft applications.

Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved PM machine whichaddresses these and other limitations of the prior art, and it is anobject of this invention to do so.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for operating agas turbine engine, comprising the steps of: providing the engine, theengine having a main shaft drivingly connected to a multiple poweroutput channel electric machine, the machine having a rotor and astator, the stator having a plurality of non-overlapping sectors, eachsector having a set of stator windings associated therewith, said setsof stator windings being electrically independent of one another, thestator sectors and associated windings each providing one of saidmultiple power output channels; providing an electrical distributionsystem electrically connected to said power output channels of themachine, the channels connected to the electrical distribution system inparallel relative to one another; operating the engine to rotate therotor and thereby generate electricity; in normal machine operation,combining the power output channels to provide a single power output tothe electrical distribution system; and in the event of a fault,shutting down at least one channel associated with said fault whilecontinuing operation of a remainder of said channels to provide poweroutput to the electrical distribution system.

In another aspect, the invention provides an alternator comprising arotor, a stator having at least one stator winding having a plurality ofend turns exposed at an axial end of the stator, a fluid cooling jacketsubstantially surrounding the stator and the end turns, and an insertdisposed intermediate the end turns and the cooling jacket, the coolingjacket communicating with a fluid coolant supply, the insert having jetsfor directing fluid coolant from the cooling jacket to the end turns,the insert comprised of at least one of copper and aluminium to therebyreduce stray inductance of the end turns

Still other inventions are disclosed in this specification and attachedfigures, as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention and to show moreclearly how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be made byway of example to the accompanying drawings, showing articles madeaccording to preferred embodiments of the present invention, in which:

FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of a typical permanent magnet (PM)machine according to the prior art;

FIG. 1B is an exploded isometric view of the prior art device of FIG.1A;

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a typical PM machine according tothe prior art having an “outside rotor” configuration;

FIG. 2B is an exploded isometric view of the prior art device of FIG.2A;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 1A, schematicallyshowing magnetic flux paths;

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of a PM machine according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 4B is an exploded isometric view of the device of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is a rear isometric view of a portion (i.e. a few adjacentloops) of the primary winding of the device of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4D is an isometric view of the secondary winding of the device ofFIG. 4A;

FIG. 4E is an enlarged isometric view of a portion of the rotor andstator of the device of FIG. 4A, with a portion broken away to revealdetail therein and schematically showing some magnetic flux paths in thedevice;

FIG. 5A is an exploded isometric view of a second embodiment of a PMmachine according to the present invention, with the stator shown inghost lines to reveal the winding detail therein;

FIG. 5B is an enlarged isometric view of a portion of the stator of thedevice of FIG. 5A, with a portion broken away to reveal detail therein;

FIG. 5C is an enlarged cross-sectional partial view of the device ofFIG. 5A, schematically showing magnetic flux paths in the device;

FIG. 6A is an exploded isometric view of a third embodiment of a PMmachine according to the present invention;

FIG. 6B is an isometric view of the stator of the device of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 6C is a rear isometric view of the stator of FIG. 6B;

FIG. 6D is an enlarged isometric view of a portion of the rotor andstator of the device of FIG. 6A, with a portion broken away to revealdetail therein;

FIG. 6E is a partial cross-sectional view of the portion of the rotorand stator shown in FIG. 6D;

FIG. 6F is a cross-sectional view along the lines 6 f-6 f in FIG. 6E;

FIG. 7A is an isometric schematic representation of a method for makingprimary windings in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7B is much-enlarged cross-section of a portion of a stator showingthe windings of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8A is an enlarged isometric view and a cross-sectional view similarto FIGS. 6D and 6E, respectively, schematically representing electricaland magnetic activity on start up of the present invention;

FIG. 8B is an enlarged isometric view and a cross-sectional view similarto FIG. 8A, respectively, schematically representing electrical andmagnetic activity immediately after the moment in time represented inFIG. 8A;

FIG. 9 is a schematic of an equivalent electrical circuit of one phasethe device of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 10 is a schematic of an embodiment of a secondary winding controlcircuit;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are schematics of other examples of secondary windingcontrol circuits;

FIG. 12A is an enlarged isometric view and a cross-sectional viewsimilar to FIGS. 6D and 6E, respectively, schematically representingelectrical and magnetic activity of another embodiment of the presentinvention employing a low Curie point material;

FIG. 12B is an enlarged isometric view and a cross-sectional viewsimilar to FIGS. 6D and 6E, respectively, schematically representingelectrical and magnetic activity after the secondary winding fuse of thepresent invention blows;

FIG. 13A is an enlarged isometric cross-sectional view of a portion ofthe stator of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13B is an enlarged isometric cross-sectional view of a portion ofthe stator of an alternate design for the embodiment of FIG. 13A;

FIG. 14 is a schematic of an aircraft accessory system employing amulti-channel version of the present invention; and

FIG. 15 shows a gas turbine engine incorporating the present invention,with a portion of the engine broken away to reveal a cross-sectionthereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A permanent magnet (PM) machine according to the present invention isdepicted in at 10 in FIGS. 4A to 4E. Referring first to FIGS. 4A and 4B,PM machine 10 has a rotor 12 which includes a plurality of permanentmagnets 14 retained by a yoke 16 and retention sleeve portion 18.Machine 10 also has a stator 20 which includes at least a primarywinding 22 and at least a secondary winding 24 (for clarity, only one ofeach such winding is shown), separated in this embodiment by a windingair gap 26 and disposed in radial slots 28 between a plurality ofadjacent teeth 30 in a back iron 32. (For ease of illustration in FIG.4B, the adjacent elements of secondary winding 24 are shownunconnected.) The winding air gap serves as insulation and may bereplaced by other suitable insulation. A rotor air gap 34 separatesrotor 12 and stator 20 in a typical fashion, and a stator tooth gap 36separates adjacent teeth 30 at a rotor interface surface 38 of stator20. Primary winding 22 and secondary winding 24 are thus electricallyisolated from one another. Stator 20 also includes a core or “bridge”portion 40 bridging adjacent pairs of teeth 30 and passing betweenadjacent portions of primary winding 22, as will be described in moredetail below.

The materials for PM machine 10 may be any deemed suitable by thedesigner. Materials preferred by the inventor are: samarium cobaltpermanent magnets, maraging steel (preferably 250 or 300) retentionsleeve, aluminum yoke, copper primary and secondary windings, a suitableelectromagnetic material for the stator teeth and for the back iron.

Referring to FIGS. 4C and 4E, primary winding 22 of the embodiment ofFIG. 4A consists of a conductor which enters a first end 27 of a slot 28a on a first side 40′ of bridge 40, and a first leg portion 23′ ofwinding 22 travels down slot 28 a, an end turn portion 23″ of winding 22crosses bridge 40 at the second (i.e. other) end 29 of slot 28 a and asecond leg portion 23″′ travels back along slot 28 a and exits slot 28 afrom the first end 27, but on a second side 40″ of bridge 40 (i.e.opposite to the first side 40′ the winding entered). Primary winding 22then continues along the first end 27 of the stator to the nextappropriate slot 28 b and again enters from the first end 27 of slot 28b, but preferably from the second side 40″ of bridge 40 (i.e. the sameside of bridge 40 as it exited the last slot 28 a). Primary winding 22then travels down slot 28 b, loops around bridge 40 at the second end 29of slot 28 b, then proceeds back up slot 28 b and exits the first end 27of slot 28 b, and is now again on the first side 40′ the bridge piece,and so on. Primary winding 22 is thus positioned in the desired slots 28in stator 20. This particular pattern both facilitates assembly (as willbe discussed further below) and provides an orderly arrangement forprimary winding 22, and also beneficially assists winding separationwithin PM machine 10 (see FIG. 7B).

Referring to FIG. 4D, secondary winding 24 in the embodiment of FIGS.4A-4E is a shorted winding to provide a squirrel cage configuration.Secondary winding 24 thus has a plurality of legs 42 extending betweenend rings 44.

Referring to FIG. 4E, a close-up partial isometric section shows therelative arrangements of primary winding 22 and secondary winding 24(only a portion of one primary winding 22 is shown for clarity). Inoperation, as will be described in greater detail below, the interactionof magnets 14 and windings 22, and windings 22 and 24, creates magneticflux within PM machine 10. Referring to FIG. 4E, a primary magnetic fluxpath or magnetic circuit 46 and a secondary magnetic flux path or magnetcircuit 48 are set up within PM machine 10, as are representedschematically in FIG. 4E. The secondary magnetic flux path is isolatedfrom the rotor and rotor magnetic circuit.

Primary magnetic circuit 46 includes rotor 12, rotor air gap 24, bridge40 and the portion of stator teeth 30 between rotor 12 and bridge 40.Primary magnetic circuit encircles primary winding 22 and, in use (asdescribed further below) either causes or is caused by a current flow inprimary winding 22, depending on whether machine 10 is operated as analternator/generator or motor, respectively. Secondary magnetic circuit48 includes bridge 40, back iron 32 and the portion of stator teeth 30between back iron 32 and bridge 40. Secondary magnetic circuit encirclessecondary winding 24. Secondary winding 24, as will be described furtherbelow, is provided for control purposes and preferably, therefore, notconnected to an output circuit of machine 10.

Referring again to FIG. 4A, stator 20, bridge 40 and slot 28 togetherdefine two slots or openings 28′ and 28″, with one opening 28′ for theprimary winding only, and another opening 28″ for the primary andsecondary windings. The primary magnetic circuit encircles opening 28′while the secondary magnetic circuit encircles opening 28″. In FIG. 4A,the opening 28′ is radially closer to the rotor than the other opening28″. Within the slot 28, bridge 40 extends a portion of the distancefrom the radially innermost portion of slot 28 to the radially outermostportion of slot 28 to thereby define openings 28′ and 28″. The designerwill select the size of the bridge, as well as the rest of the statordimensions, based at least in part on the desired properties of themagnetic circuits in the machine to yield the desired machineperformance, etc. Referring to FIG. 4E, bridge 40 also preferablyextends the entire distance from stator faces 27 to 29 and thus isadjacent the primary winding 22 along the length of legs 23′ and 23″.Leg 23′ is preferably substantially parallel to winding 24 along its leg25′ extending the length of opening 28″.

Referring to FIGS. 5A-5C, a second “inside rotor” embodiment of thepresent invention is shown. The same reference numerals are used todenote the analogous elements described with reference to FIGS. 4A-4D.The skilled reader will also appreciate the relative similarities anddifferences in construction and operation of typical “outside” vs.“inside” rotor configurations, and thus these will not be discussedfurther here. Aspects of the second embodiment not specificallydescribed below may otherwise be assumed to be made in accordance withthe description of the analogous element described above.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the second embodiment of the presentinvention is another multi-winding, multi-phase configuration. In otherwords, there are multiple primary windings 22 and secondary windings 24,preferably one for each phase. For clarity, only one phase is depicted.Though only the windings of one phase will be described below,preferably the description will apply to the windings of all phases.

Referring first to FIG. 5A, each phase of primary winding 22 consists ofa conductor which, in a manner similar to that described above, enters afirst end 27 of a slot 28 a on a first side 40′ of bridge 40, travelsdown slot 28 a, crosses bridge 40 at the second (i.e. other) end 29 ofslot 28 a and travels back along slot 28 a and exits slot 28 a from thefirst end 27, but on a second side 40″ of bridge 40 (i.e. opposite tothe first side the winding entered). Primary winding 22 then continuesalong the first end 27 of the stator to the next appropriate slot 28 band again enters from the first end 27 of slot 28 b, but preferably fromthe second side 40″ of bridge 40 (i.e. the same side of bridge 40 as itexited the last slot 28 a). Primary winding 22 then travels down slot 28b, loops around bridge 40 at the second end 29 of slot 28 b, thenproceeds back up slot 28 b and exits the first end 27 of slot 28 b, andis now again on the first side 40′ the bridge piece, and so on. Primarywinding 22 is thus positioned in the desired slots 28 in stator 20.

In this embodiment, each phase of secondary winding 24 consists of aconductor which enters one end 27 of the slot 28 a occupied by theprimary winding 22 of that phase and then exits slot 28 s from theopposite end 29 and continues to the next appropriate slot 28 b(preferably the next slot occupied by this phase of primary winding 22,as depicted in FIG. 5A), and so on.

Referring to FIG. 5B, the relative arrangements of primary winding 22,secondary winding 24 and bridge 40 can be seen within stator 20.Referring to FIG. 5C, a schematic representation of the primary andsecondary magnetic circuits flux paths 46 and 48, respectively, is shownwhen PM machine 10 is in use.

A third embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in FIGS. 6A-6F.Referring first to FIGS. 6A and 6C, this embodiment is an outside-rotor,3-phase, dual “channel” PM machine, depicted with one set (i.e.“channel”) of primary windings 22 absent (for clarity), as will bedescribed in more detail below. The same reference numerals are used inFIGS. 6A-6F to denote the analogous elements described with reference tothe embodiments above, and thus these elements will not be redundantlydescribed here but rather addressed only as required. Aspects of thethird embodiment which are not specifically described below may beassumed therefore to be otherwise made in accordance with thedescription of the analogous elements above.

As mentioned briefly above, and for reasons which will become moreapparent below, in this embodiment, stator 20 of PM machine 10 isconceptually divided into an “a” half and a “b” half, and thus windings22 and 24 will be described in terms of primary windings “22 a” and “22b” and secondary windings “24 a” and “24 b”. Other features associatedwith windings 22 and 24 may also be described as “a” or “b” specific.Primary windings 22 b are not depicted in FIGS. 6A-6C for clarity, butmay be assumed to be otherwise identical to primary windings 22 a.

Referring to FIG. 6A, in this embodiment three primary windings 22 a areprovided, namely primary windings 22 a ¹, 22 a ² and 22 a ³, to providethe desired 3-phase configuration. Each primary winding 22 a is providedwith its own primary terminal 50 a (see FIG. 6B) for ease of connectionto an associated primary circuit (not shown). Secondary windings 24 aand 24 b each have squirrel cage-type arrangement (i.e. with legs 42 andend rings 44) and have secondary terminals 52 a and 52 b, respectively,for ease of connection to an associated secondary circuit. Referring toFIGS. 6D and 6E, preferably (as will be described in greater detailbelow) each leg 42 of secondary windings 24 includes a current-limitingdevice such as a fuse or breaker element 54. Stator 20 has a pluralityof passages 58 defined on its inner periphery to act as an oil transfermechanism, as will also be described in more detail below. Referringagain to FIG. 6A, preferably paper spacers 56 are placed between primarywindings 22 and stator 20, and between secondary winding 24 and stator20, for insulation purposes.

Bridges 40 are preferably non-integral with stator 20, and thus insertedas an assembly as depicted schematically in FIG. 6C, whichadvantageously permits the designer to select different materials forbridge 40 and stator 20. For example, a bridge material may be chosen toalter the magnetic or performance characteristics of machine 10, as willbe discussed in greater detail below. Non-integral bridges 40 may alsobeneficially facilitate machine assembly, as explained further below.

Referring in particular to FIGS. 6A-6C, as mentioned this embodiment hasa “multi-channel” architecture, in that a plurality of fully independent“sets” of primary and secondary windings are provided. In this case, twosuch sets are provided (i.e. sets “a” and “b” described briefly above),namely primary windings 22 a and 22 b (primary winding 22 b is notshown, for clarity) and secondary windings 24 a and 22 b. Thismulti-channel architecture permits a plurality of motor/alternators toexist within the same stator, and which may either be operatedconjunctively, or independently, as desired. For example, in normalmachine operation, the outputs of the winding sets may be combined toprovide a single output, but in the event of a fault which requires onewinding set to be shut down, the remaining winding set(s) may continueoperation unaffected. This feature thus permits more than onemotor/generator to exist within the same machine (as is discussed ingreater detail below), thereby providing redundancy which may veryvaluable in applications where a complete shutdown would becatastrophic.

Stator 20 has a tooth gap 36 preferably provided in accordance with theapplicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,119,467, the contents of which areincorporated into this disclosure by reference. Though not shownspecifically in this disclosure, but as incorporated by reference fromthe applicant's patent, tooth gap 36 is not necessary in the stator faceadjacent the rotor (i.e. near 28 a, as in FIG. 4E), but rather slots 28may open to the opposing face (i.e. the face opposing the stator's‘rotor face’—i.e. nearer to 28 b in FIG. 4E) or slots 28 may have nosuch openings adjacent either 28 a or 28 b, but rather having openingsonly at faces 27 and 29.

Primary windings 22 and secondary winding 24 are preferably eachcomposed of single conductor provided in a single turn configuration.This single conductor, single turn configuration is preferred because itreduces the probability of a short circuit within the winding. Primarywindings 22 are preferably stamped or otherwise provided from sheetmetal and then pre-bent into a desired shape prior to insertion into thestator. An example series of fabrication steps are shown schematicallyin FIG. 7A. Advantageously, bridge 40 may be inserted into the windingsbefore insertion into the stator, and this removable bridge portion andstator architecture permits the windings to be completely pre-assembledbefore being inserted into the stator, thereby improvingmanufacturability. Referring to FIG. 7B, primary windings 22 are alsopreferably installed in stator 20 such that they are individuallyradially separated from one another to provide increased anti-shortcircuit protection between adjacent windings.

Referring to FIGS. 6C and 6D, in this embodiment wherein bridges 40 arenon-integral with stator 20, primary windings 22 may be “pre-wrapped”around bridges 40 prior to assembly into teeth 30 of stator 20. When awhole-number of turns around bridge 40 are made by primary winding 22(in this case, one turn is made), primary winding 22 enters and exitsslot 28 of stator 20 between from the same side, as described above.This design feature advantageously permits primary windings 22 to bepre-assembled with bridges 40 (and spacers 56, as desired) prior toinsertion into slots 28 of stator 20. This permits traditional windingmachines (and their associated manufacturing and tolerance difficulties)to be avoided altogether in the present design.

Referring to FIG. 8A, in use, whether in a motor or alternator mode, theinteraction of magnets and primary winding 22 causes a primary flux path46 to be set up which runs down a first portion (i.e. the upper end) oftooth 30, across bridge 40, and back up a corresponding first portion ofan adjacent tooth 30, and then to and through the rotor to complete theloop, as depicted by the solid arrows in FIG. 8A. This primary flux pathcauses (or is the result of, depending on whether PM machine is operatedas a motor or an alternator) current to pass through primary winding 22(in a closed primary circuit). Referring to FIG. 8B, this current flowthrough primary winding 22 causes a secondary flux path 48 to be set upthrough a second portion (i.e. the lower end) of teeth 30, through backiron 32, back up through the corresponding second portion of an adjacenttooth 30 and then back through bridge 40 to close the secondary loop.This secondary magnetic circuit causes a secondary current to flowthrough secondary winding 24 (in a closed secondary circuit)

The magnetic flux in secondary path 48 thus loops the portion ofsecondary winding 24 opposite primary flux path 46, and the interactionof primary winding 22 and secondary winding 24 thus sets up a secondarymagnetic circuit in machine 10. It can clearly be seen, therefore, thatthe magnetic flux path(s) of the present invention are entirelydifferent than is present in a typical prior art PM machine. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, these characteristics of the presentinvention present many advantages to a PM machine designer.

When used as an alternator, a PM machine will generate voltage andcurrent which may be used as required, or stored for later use. Often, aconditioning step of some description is required to convert the rawoutput of the alternator into a more useful form (typically by varyingthe voltage, current and/or frequency and perhaps also rectify theoutput into DC current). As discussed in the Background, in a gasturbine integral-starter generator (ISG) application, in normaloperation in an alternator mode, variations in engine speed and loadresults in an ISG output current and voltage which requires conditioningbefore the generated electricity is useable by on-board aircraft systemssuch as electric oil pumps, fuel pumps and other accessories. Therefore,means may be provided outside PM machine 10 to control and condition themachine output (i.e. preferably the output of primary winding 22).

However, when operated as an alternator, the present invention alsopermits the output the primary winding(s) 22 to be controlled to acertain extent through a manipulation of at least the current secondarywinding(s) 24, as will now be described.

Referring again to FIGS. 8A and 8B, it will be appreciated that, inessence, the present invention set ups a transformer-type relationshipbetween primary winding 22 and secondary winding 24, as is schematicallyrepresented FIG. 9 by a simple equivalent circuit. In the preferredembodiments depicted in FIGS. 4A to 6F, the equivalent “transformer” isa 1:1 transformer, i.e. the number of turns in primary winding 22 equalsthe number of turns in secondary winding 24 (here, each has only oneturn). In such a “transformer”, the following relationship existsbetween the primary and secondary windings:

I _(PRIMARY) *V _(PRIMARY) =I _(SECONDARY) *V _(SECONDARY)

Thus, the magnetic flux developed within secondary magnetic circuit isproportional to the current flow in primary winding(s) 22 and inverselyproportional to the magnetic coupling within secondary magnetic circuit.The magnetic flux in secondary magnetic circuit is proportional to themagnetic coupling, and inversely proportional to the current flow insecondary winding 24 (i.e. the current induced in the secondary windingcauses the secondary flux to be cancelled). Therefore, the currentflowing in secondary winding 24 directly influences the currentgenerated in the primary winding 22 by the rotating magnetic system ofPM machine 10, and the current flow is a function of the current flow inthe primary windings. The secondary windings 24 are inductively coupledonly to the primary winding 24 (excluding leakage, etc.), and thus thesecondary winding 24 and secondary magnetic circuit 48 are onlyinfluenced by the flux in the primary magnetic circuit 46 set up by theprimary winding 24 (except in the case of a low Curie point bridge, ofthe type describe further below, when the bridge is at or exceeds thebridge material's Curie point temperature).

This aspect of the present invention permits the designer to use thesecondary winding to manipulate the output of primary winding 22, andthus secondary winding 24 may be used as a source of control PM machine10. Means for controlling the operation of PM machine are thus availablewithin the machine itself, as the “control” current may be generatedwithin PM machine 10, that is in secondary winding 24. In someinstances, therefore, no external source of control current may berequired. The novel architecture of the present invention thereforelends itself to many novel possibilities for control systems for themachine, a few examples of which will now described.

In one example control scheme, the output (i.e. from a primary winding22) of PM machine 10 in an alternator mode may be controlled bymechanical means by directly influencing the current in the secondarywinding 24. Referring again to FIGS. 6D and 6E, a current limitingdevice 54, such as a fuse element, is preferably provided in one or morelegs 42 (preferably all legs) of secondary winding 24. Referring toFIGS. 8A and 8B, as mentioned, current in secondary winding 24 is afunction of current in the primary winding 22. Thus, as current in theprimary winding rises (such as in the case of an internal fault such asa short circuit) so, too, will the current in the secondary winding.Referring to FIG. 12B, in use, when the current in secondary winding 24exceeds a certain threshold, a fuse element 54 would “blow”, therebycreating an open-circuit in secondary winding (i.e. no secondarycurrent) and, by reason of the electrical inter-relationship between theprimary and secondary circuits, the output current of primary circuitwill be limited. With no current flow in the secondary winding, the fluxin primary magnetic circuit 46 induces in a significant flux insecondary magnetic circuit 48. Consequently inductive reactance isincreased, which can be used limit maximum output current to a maximumsynchronous impedance of machine 10. (Prior to opening of the fuse, whensecondary current is allowed to flow in the secondary winding, theresulting secondary flux is in the opposing direction and thus tends tocancel the secondary flux. Hence, the operation of machine 10 isrelatively unaffected by the presence of the secondary until thesecondary circuit opens.) This permits the control of the machine'simpedance and offers PM machine 10 intrinsic thermal protection againsta short-circuit in primary winding 22 when operating in an alternatormode. Any suitable fuse may be used.

Prior to opening of fuse 54 (i.e. in normal machine operation),secondary winding 24 as disclosed in the embodiment of FIGS. 6A-6Foperates in a simple short-circuited squirrel cage arrangement, and thuswill have no perceptible effect on primary winding 22. In other words,when secondary winding 24 is fully short circuited, PM machine 10 maybeoperated in a manner substantially in similar to prior art machines.

In a second example control scheme, current in the secondary winding 24can be influenced by electronic means to control the current in primarywinding 22. Direct electronic control of current in secondary winding 24can be achieved by an impedance or other control system, such as theexamples depicted in FIGS. 10, 11A and 11B which provide proportionaltype or other control adjustments of the current in secondary winding24, to thereby control the current in primary winding 22.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a simple arrangement for solid statesecondary winding electronic control circuit 60 for control secondarywinding 24 for machine 10. The main elements are D₁ Bridge rectifier,and Q₁ IGBT device (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor). The device Q₁could also be substituted by another type of device, such as a powerMOSFET or other switching device. In this example, multiple secondarywindings 24 ¹, 24 ², 24 ³ (e.g. as in the example of a multiphasemachine having a secondary winding for each phase) preferably each havesimilar circuits, e.g. as 60 is depicted in FIG. 10, which could becontrolled by a single control system. V_(s1), the control voltage, isused to switch Q₁ ‘on’ or ‘off’ and, as such, may be used to control theaverage DC current flow in the D₁ rectifier bridge and, consequently,the AC current flow in secondary winding 24. In this arrangement,secondary winding 24 preferably has multiple turns (relative to primarywinding 22) such that the current being switched by the Q₁ device wouldbe stepped-down to only a fraction of the current flow in primary mainwinding 22 to thereby permit low current control circuitry connected tosecondary winding 24 to control a high current machine output fromprimary winding 22. (The switched voltage at Q₁ would generally still behigher than the primary machine voltage, but it will be understood thatthis is still practical since Q₁ devices are available which operate atover 1500V). This control arrangement is useful as a voltage regulatorwhen the output of machine 10 (i.e. the output of primary winding 22) isto be rectified for use as a DC supply or further conditioned asdesired. In use, the current induced in the secondary is affected andcontrolled by the elements in the secondary circuit, and this controlpermits the current and/or voltage of the primary to be affected asdesired to control the operation and behaviour of PM machine 10.

Many other control schemes are also possible. Referring FIG. 11A, adifferent secondary winding electronic control circuit 60 is shown, inwhich the output of secondary winding 24 fed in parallel throughparallel diode 62 and transistor 64 pairs (in this case the transistorsare NJFETs) to permit the secondary current to be modulated to thuscontrol the primary winding 22 output. Referring to FIG. 11B, a secondembodiment of a secondary winding control circuit 70 is shown, in whichthe output of secondary winding 24 fed to a thermally-sensitive switch72. Still other control schemes are possible, as will be appreciated byone skilled in the art upon consideration of this disclosure.

In a third example control scheme, the current in secondary winding 24can be influenced by varying the magnetic coupling in the secondarymagnetic circuit to thereby control the primary winding current. Forexample, referring again to the figures the configuration and materialselection for components such as stator teeth 30, back iron 32 andbridge 40 will also vary the magnetic properties of the secondarymagnetic circuit, thus permitting the designer to “control” theperformance of PM machine 10. In one example, described further below,the secondary magnetic circuit includes a low Curie point material suchas ferrite, when the machine operates with the secondary magneticcircuit at or above the Curie temperature the effect or influence of thesecondary winding would be greatly reduced.

As discussed above, non-integral bridge pieces 40 may provide benefitsfor the assembly of PM machine 10. Also, as briefly mentioned, theprovision of a non-integral bridge permits the designer to select adifferent material for bridge 40. For example, additional short-circuitcontrol can be provided to PM machine 10 in accordance with theteachings of the applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,560 (the '560 patent),the contents of which are incorporated by reference into thisdisclosure. The '560 patent teaches that materials with a low Curietemperature (referred to as low Curie point materials in thisdescription), such as ferrite, can be beneficially used in electricmachines to provide thermal protection in the event that a fault causesnormal operating temperatures to be exceeded. This concept may also beapplied in the present invention, as will now be described.

Referring again to FIGS. 6A-6F, preferably bridges 40 are made ofdifferent material than teeth 30, which thereby permits the designer toalter the behaviour of the primary and secondary magnetic circuits. Mostpreferably, bridge 40 is made of a low Curie point material of the typedescribed in the '560 patent, such as ferrite.

Referring now to FIG. 12A, in use, in such a thermally-protectedembodiment primary winding 22 is preferably closely thermally coupled tobridge 40 pieces to permit a fast and effective control of the machinein the fault condition. In the event of a fault that raises thetemperature of a bridge 40 to or above the Curie point of the ferritebridge material, bridge 40 begins to lose its ability to conductmagnetic flux, and thus (eventually, as temperature increases) becomes“invisible” to the magnetic circuit in stator 30. The primary andsecondary magnet circuits are thus joined into one circuit (reference47), as magnetic flux (eventually) no longer crosses bridge 40, or fluxis at least greatly reduced.

In fact, preferably, the low Curie point material is selected such thatwhen the Curie point of bridge 40 is reached, bridge 40 doesn'tcompletely stop magnetic flux from passing therethrough (and thusdoesn't completely “shut down” the primary current down, but rather asthe Curie point is reached and exceeded, the amount of magnet fluxpassing though the bridge is progressively reduced, thereby acting justto “turn down” the primary current, rather than shut it off completely.The amount the current is “turned down” by bridge 40 is controlled bythe amount of magnetic “short circuit” experienced as a result ofreaching the bridge material Curie temperature, and is thus affected notonly by bridge 40 material, but also by (a) tooth pitch, (b) back ironthickness, (c) tooth length, and (d) back iron material, among otherthings. The designer may use this knowledge to control the “turn down”behaviour of PM machine 10 in the event a machine fault occurs.

To enhance the effectiveness of a low Curie point embodiment of thepresent invention, a close thermal coupling between the windings and thelow Curie point material of bridge 40 is advantageous and thuspreferred. This close coupling may be achieved by close contact betweenprimary winding 22 and bridge 40, and/or may be enhanced by the use ofbonding material between the windings and the low Curie point material.

Advantageously, the use of a low Curie point bridge material can providethermal protection to PM machine 10 in fault situations where thecurrent in secondary winding 24 is not high enough, for example, to blowa fuse 54 and yet continued operation of machine 10 could result indamage to the machine. Thus, the use of a low Curie point material inconjunction with the present invention can permit intrinsicallyredundant safety systems to be incorporated.

Another significant advantage of PM machine 10 is that, when a low Curiepoint material is employed as described, if the internal fault is ashort in a loop (or loops) of the winding, the described low Curie pointembodiment can permit only the faulty loop(s) to be shut down or turneddown, leaving the operation of the rest of the winding essentiallyunaffected. The bridge and stator arrangement, in conjunction with theindependent ferrite bridge portions, in effect forms a plurality ofserially-connected by otherwise independent alternators within PMmachine 10.

A low Curie point material may also be used in the secondary circuit forcontrol purposes. For example, if a low Curie point material (such asferrite) were used in the secondary magnetic circuit of the presentinvention, for example in the back iron, the design could permit thecurrent in the primary circuit to be increased as the low Curie pointmaterial in the secondary circuit is heated above its Curie temperature.This may be a beneficial feature, depending on the performance criteriaor specification for a particular application for PM machine 10. Forexample, this feature may be used to increase output to a cooling systemsuch that the machine, operated as an alternator, both provides coolingpower and controls temperature.

Referring to FIGS. 13A and 13B, the present invention may be providedincluding a cooling system including a coolant 80 (preferably oil)within PM machine 10. Oil is circulated through passages 58 inside astator jacket 82 around and along the primary and secondary windings toassist in cooling them. In FIG. 13B, an oil jet 84 in an insert 86directs oil onto the end turn of the primary winding. If the insert 86is made of aluminum or copper, the stray inductance of the end turn isalso reduced, thereby reducing the overall machine impedance.

Accordingly, control schemes such as those disclosed above may beemployed individually or may be combined as desired to permit severalcontrol features to exist contemporaneously within the PM machine. Asprior art fixed-geometry PM machines typically are not controllable inany way other than by the speed at which they are operated, thiscontrollability feature of the present invention is of significant valueto the PM machine designer, particularly in those applications where therotational speed of the machine cannot itself be used to control machineoutput. The present invention also offers a robust and reliable designsuitable for aerospace applications.

In essence, the present invention provides a type of internalcurrent-limiting transformer (in the described embodiments, a 1:1transformer, but other ratios are possible) built into the magneticstructure of the machine. The “primary” is connected electrically inseries with the main output feeders of the alternator, and the“secondary” is configured preferably as a short circuit, which willbecome an open circuit, by means of a fuse, or other circuitinterrupting or current limiting means, above a certain pre-selectedtemperature. Typically, the pre-selected threshold temperature will bethe maximum safe sustained operating temperature of the machine, abovewhich the machine is susceptible to thermal damage (e.g., say about 300°C. when typical electric machine construction materials are used). Whenthe secondary becomes open circuit, current flow in the primary issignificantly reduced as a result of the inductive reactance of the“transformer” under no load conditions, which thereby results in anincrease in the machine impedance. Preferably, the increase in machineimpedance is a significant one (e.g. doubling the machine impedance),such that the short circuit current in the primary is effectivelylimited to a value equal to the maximum power rating of the machine. Theadvantage of using this “transformer” type arrangement is that eachstator slot may be protected by its own “transformer-breaker”, and thusthe voltage that is being fused is only a fraction (e.g. ⅙^(th) in adual-channel 3 phase machine of the type described further below) of thetotal generated voltage. Consequently, the breaker/fuse in the secondarywill be less likely to experience an arc when the circuit is opened.

The ‘transformer’ of the present invention may also be remote from thestator, such that a portion of the primary and some or all of thesecondary are disposed external to the stator.

The net effect of the low Curie point embodiment described above is thattwo thermal protection schemes may be implemented in the machine, namely(1) a low Curie point type over-temperature protection scheme, whichprovides intrinsic and automatic reversible (i.e. non-permanent)overload protection to prevent permanent damage to the machine formoderate to severe temperature overloads, and (2) a high temperatureprotection scheme which will automatically react in the event that (i)the first-mentioned mechanism does not sufficiently control the shortcircuit current within the time desired, and/or (ii) in situations wherethe short circuit resistance(s) in the machine is (are) very low.

As discussed above, the present invention also includes a“multi-channel” design which can, among other things, offer inherentredundancy useful in aerospace applications. Referring to FIG. 14, a PMmachine 10 of the type described with reference to FIGS. 6A-6F above inessence provides a single rotor rotating relative to multiple (in thedescribed case, two) independent stators. Thus, rotor 12 rotatesrelative to a “virtual” stator 20 a (the portion with primary windings22 a) and also relative to a “virtual” stator 20 b (the portion withprimary windings 22 b). This, PM machine is a two-in-one machine in thiscase. The output of these two “machines” may then be combined, whichpermits the option of operating the “two machines” as one. PM machine 10is then preferably connected to fully redundant accessory systems, whichmay include redundant power conditioning units (PCU) 90, oil pumps 92,fuel pumps 94, hydraulic pumps 96 and other electrically-run accessories98. In a gas turbine ISG application, this dual- or multi-channel designpermits a fully redundant system (system A+system B, in FIG. 14) toprovided with a minimum of hardware, thereby minimizing weight and spaceand increasing reliability. As well, since generator efficiency isproportional to I² losses, it is often preferable to run two “machines”like this, each at ½ of the output current, rather than one machine afull output current. Further, power from the two “machines” may beshared, if desired, between the PCUs with the appropriate connections,etc., to permit redundancy in the case of a “machine” or PCU failure.

The present invention is particularly well suited, among other things,to prevent overheating problems of an internally short circuitedpermanent magnet arrangement that is driven continuously, such as in thecase of an internal fault in a machine 10 driven by a shaft ‘S’ in gasturbine engine ‘GT’, as depicted in FIG. 15. The invention also permitsa certain level of control to be attained over an alternator which isdriven at variable speeds (i.e. driven by an operating propulsiveaircraft gas turbine).

The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled inthe art will recognize and changes may be made to the embodimentsdescribed without departing from the scope of the invention disclosed.For example, the machine may be single or multi-phase, single ormulti-channel. The windings may have single or multi turns per slot, thenumber of turns of primary windings does not have to equal the number ofturns of secondary winding, the number of turns of a winding notnecessarily have to be a whole number, the number of primary windingsdoes not have to equal the number of secondary windings, as one or morewindings in a slot may perhaps be present in a slot. A variety ofwinding types may be used (squirrel cage, lap, etc.), and the windingsmay be any conductor(s) (i.e. single conductor, more than one wire,insulated, laminated, etc.) or may be superconductors. In multiphasemachine, there may be zigzag, delta, or Y-connected windings inaccordance with known techniques. There need not be an air gap betweenthe primary and secondary winding, as long as the windings areelectrically isolated from one another.

The rotor can be electromagnetic (i.e. permanent magnet not necessary),and may be provided in an outside or inside configuration, or any othersuitable configuration. The bridge may be provided in one or more slots,and may be integral or non-integral with the rest of the stator. Asecondary bridge may also be provided, in the form of the back iron, forexample, if the secondary winding(s) are wound around the back iron.Other secondary bridge configurations are also possible.

Secondary winding may also be used for control purposes in motor mode.Other portions of the stator and rotor, such as back iron for example,may be provided of a low Curie point material to achieve the benefits ofthe present invention. Still other modifications which fall within thescope of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in theart, in light of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications areintended to fall within the equivalents accorded to the appended claims.In this application, it is to be understood that the term ‘alternator’is used generically to mean a device used for creating electricity, andis not intended therefore to be limited to a device for generating anoutput alternating current.

1. A stator assembly for a multi-phase electric machine, the assembly comprising a stator having a plurality of radially-extending slots around a periphery of the stator, and a multi-phase winding set comprising at least three phase windings each configured for carrying an alternating current signal of a distinct phase relative to the other phase windings, the at least three phase windings disposed regularly around the stator in selected stator slots, each stator slot carrying only one of said at least three phase windings, the at least three windings extending circumferentially from respective slot to respective slot adjacently to one another along a common end of the stator, the at least three windings extending adjacently to one another along the common end at different radii relative to one another, the radii selected to provide a radial air-gap separation between adjacent phase windings.
 2. The stator assembly of claim 1 wherein each phase winding extends through its respective slot at a radii different than the other phase windings. 